Euro 2012 Scores: Spain's Win in Penalty Kicks Proves La Roja Won't Repeat

It wasn't pretty, but Spain will advance to the Euro 2012 final after their win in penalty kicks over Portugal.

La Roja will await the winner of Thursday's match between Germany and Italy but, no matter who it is, Spain's win on Wednesday proves they aren't playing well enough to become champions once again.

The score remained deadlocked at zero for the entire match. Each team barely missed on several opportunities and were unable to capitalize on the mistakes of their opponent.

After extra time simply wasn't enough to determine an outcome, Portugal and Spain went to penalty kicks in order to prove who was worthy to make it to the Euro Cup final.

Without a single kick from Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo—in what was a mind-boggling exclusion from the penalty kick phase of the match—Spain won 4-2 in what proved to be a gut-wrenching match for one of the top soccer teams on the planet.

Normally, at this phase in the tournament, a win is a win. But for Spain—a team with much higher expectations than just getting to the final—this win was an alarming wake-up call for this club and their chances of repeating as champs.

Portugal controlled the pace of this match, as they held onto the ball for 55 percent of the time to Spain's 45 percent. Fortunately for Spain, Portugal was unable to get many chances on net, having failed on 10 attempts total with only two on net.

While their defense was superb during the match, as they normally are, La Roja's offense wasn't as impressive. I already mentioned the difference in possession in the semifinal showdown, but their inability to make the most of their chances was disturbing.

Spain had 11 attempts in total with five on net. Chances such as the ones Spain had in this match are few and far between against some of the elite teams in this tournament, and can't be underestimated moving forward.

Some of those chances occurred when Spain wasn't looking sluggish on the offensive side of the ball. It wasn't until the end of the first 90 minutes of play when this club showed some urgency in this match.

It was only then that La Roja played its best soccer of the match.

But even then, Spain was unable to find the back of the net with any of their late chances, thus forcing penalty kicks.

If Spain faces Italy in the Euro final, they will be up against one of the finest defenses in the world. Chances can't be squandered as often as they were in Spain's match against Portugal.

That's because La Roja simply won't get as many chances against the stingy Azzurri defense.

A low-scoring affair, like Spain's semifinal match, would be playing directly into the hands of the Italian club. Not to mention, Italy has already played Spain tough in their opening match of group play.

With La Roja not looking any better than they did from the start of this tourney, chances are Italy will play Spain tough once again.

A potential match against Germany would be even worse for Spain. Not only would they be up against a tough defense, but Spain would have to contend with a top-notch offense that has scored more goals than any participant in Euro 2012.

Spain certainly can't allow Germany to have the upper hand in time of possession like they did against Portugal. Its hard enough to stop the Germans from scoring goals.

But, when they have extra time with the ball in their possession, its almost a death sentence for their opponent—whoever it might be.

If their win in penalties is evidence of anything, its that La Roja needs work offensively. They must be more motivated in the final of this tournament for the entirety of 90 minutes if they wish to beat either one of their potential final opponents.